Thread clamping bobbin holder



June 1954 J. R. GRADY ET AL THREAD CLAMPING BOBBIN HOLDER 2 SheetsSheet l Filed June 16, 1949 June 29, 1954 Filed June 16, 1949 J. R. GRADY ETAL THREAD CLAMPING BOBBIN HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 29, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE L. Muschamp, Bramhall assignor to said Muscha England; said Grady Application June 16, 1949, Serial No. 99,481

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 17, 1948 Claims.

This invention relates to automatic winding machines such as are known as quill winders, pirn winders, spool winders, cop winders or weft winders, of the kind having centres, one of which is a winding spindle, adapted to hold a core on which the winding is eifected, and wherein a full quill, pirn or other package after winding is removed from the winding station and an empty tube, bobbin or other core is automatically inserted in its place, whereupon winding is again automatically started, the cycle of operations being controlled by an automaton. The invention while primarily applicable to, and hereinafter described as applied to, yarn winding machines, is applicable to winding machines for any other filament such as a wire.

Hitherto, in all such machines the yarn from the full quill or pirn is located so that it is trapped by the end of the empty tube or bobbin as the latter is inserted in the winding station, and is then severed from the full quill or pirn before winding is recommenced.

One of the major problems With such machines has been that such method of holding the yarn is uncertain because the base of the tube or bobbin is unsuitable for the purpose being either too small in diameter or irregular due to design or damage.

The object of the invention is to overcome the aforesaid problem.

According to the invention clamping means are provided on the winding spindle having com plementary filament-receiving and clamping faces separate from the end of the core and adapted to receive and hold the starting end of the filament.

In a preferred embodiment such yarn receiving and clamping means is resiliently loaded to the open position and adapted to be closed by end pressure for securing the core in the winding station.

The winding machine having the clamping means aforesaid may be further characterised by improved means for positioning the yarn or thread therein and/ or for driving the tube, bobbin or the core positively from the winding spindle.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section showing the headstock and tailstock of a winding station for an automatic quill winder made in accordance with the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views of a modification.

Figs. 4 and 5 are plan and end view of the winding station showing the yarn collecting and positioning mechanism.

Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of Figure 2 illustrating how the plug e fits into the main member e to retain the driving blade.

As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing the headstock has a spindle a the end of which is shown in chain line, and which is drilled to receive alternative sizes and shapes of adaptor heads according to the tube to be used. The present device is therefore shown as an adaptor head and consists of a spindle portion 17 with a screw-threaded extension 0 and spigot tail d adapted for fixing in axial loca tion in the end of the spindle. Ihe spindle portion b has a flange b and is formed with a cylindrical axial end socket b Slidably located in such end socket, is a plunger e having a tail I located in the socket, a cross pin 9 limiting its axial movement and constraining it to rotate with the spindle end I). In the socket is a light compression spring h. The plunger 6 has a conical base portion e the base of which is adapted to lie against the end face of the flange 1), so that such adjacent faces form a filament-receiving and clamping means. At the outer end, the plunger 6, is formed with a small extension or centre e of a size suitable to fit into and locate the end of the quill tube 7', behind which extension is a groove for a friction ring it. The yarn-engaging face of the plunger e is formed with a small outstanding rim e".

The tailstock is of known construction and includes a free running spindle Z carried in a bush m slidably mounted in a housing n with limited cushion spring axial movement, (not shown) the housing n being adjustable in a tailstock (not shown) which latter is adapted to be mechanically advanced and withdrawn by the automaton, and the cushion spring being partially compressed when a quill tube 7' is in position. The spindle has an adaptor head or tip end 0 which is changeable for different sizes and shapes of tube.

In operation, as soon as the tailstock is withdrawn by the automaton, the full quill is released and the plunger 6 is urged forward by its spring h to open the base of the cone 6 from the flange 12. Before the new quill tube is inserted, a guide arm q as described later with reference to Figs. 4 and 5, is arranged to engage the yarn leading from the full quill to the first guide in the machine and moves such yarn laterally so as to engage it with the cone e and push it towards the base until the tension in the yarn causes it to fall between the base of the cone 6 and the face of the flange b. A new quill tube being then in position or brought into position, the automaton operates to advance the tailstock so as to grip the quill tube between the tailstock and headstock, whereupon the plunger e is pressed back closing the base of the cone e against the flange b and gripping the yarn, such grip being maintained by the cushion spring, not shown, in the tailstock. The yarn may then be severed between the headstock and the full quill and the spindle again driven for winding the next quill.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the plunger e having a conical end e is drilled from its outer end at c and slotted at e In the slot is slidably located a driving blade e having a projecting driving tongue 6 and a tail e which is located in the hole (2 beyond the end of the slot. The driving blade is retained in the slot by a drivingly fitted centre plug c and is urged forwardly into the driving position by a spring a.

This construction replaces the friction ring is of the construction shown in Fig. l and is designed for use with standard slot-ended quills.

In operation, when a new quill is inserted in the winding station it be located on the centre 6 and its end will rest and be held against that end of the plunger e in which is located the centre c If the slot is in register with the tongue e of the driving blade it will be engaged therewith, but if not in register, such driving tongue will be pushed back. As winding progresses the quill will slip slightly until the slot comes into register with the driving tongue e when the latter will move forward into positive driving engagement with the slot in the end of the quill. The driving blade may if desired have two tongues 2 The outer end of the blade is located against lateral movement in the slot by a notch e engaging the backend of the centre plug 6 As shown in 4 a finished quill p is shown held by clamps 19 before being lowered and removed from the winding station such grippers being the subject of our co-pending application Serial No. 99,482. In Fig. 5 the quill is shown after lowering before ejection. The thread is still not severed and is therefore held in tension between the yarn guide 75 and some point along the upper edge of the quill as shown in Fig. 5.

In order to collect such thread and bring it into the yarn-receiving and clamping means there is a collector fork or attached to a slide q mounted on a guide rod 1" which is formed with a key-way r, the slide having a key (1 located in the keyway. The slide is adapted to be moved along the r rod by a link s connected to the automaton.

In operation after the quill p has been lowered to the position shown in Fig, 5 the link 3 is drawn, by mechanism not shown, towards the winding spindle and the collector fork q engages the yarn so that the yarn then assumes the dotted position shown in Fig. 5, between the two notches of the fork and chord-like relative to the clamping faces I) and e". The removal of the full quill from the winding station has allowed the spring h to open the yarn receiving and clamping means. The last part of the movement of the collector fork brings that portion of the yarn between its fork against the conical end e of the plunger and pushes it up such cone until it falls behind the base of the cone ready to be gripped as soon as the plunger is pushed back by the in sertion of a new quill, after which the collector fork q is moved back by the link to its idle position shown in Fig, 4.

The invention is obviously not limited to all the details of the constructional example above described in so far as such details may be modified without departing from the nature of the invention. For example, other forms of yarnreceiving and clamping means could be devised, the essential features of the invention being that such yarn-receiving and clamping means is separate from the base of the tube or bobbin itself and so that therefore the shape of the base of the bobbin cannot prejudice the effective clamping of the yarn.

What we claim is:

1. A winding station for an automatic winding machine including relatively movable spaced centres between which a core is resiliently held for winding, an adaptor detachably mounted in one of said centres, said adaptor having an end flange and an axial end socket, a plunger slidably mounted in said end socket having a base with an axially-directed annular raised portion thereon, said flange and said annular raised portion forming filament-receiving and filament-clamping faces, resilient means normally holding said adaptor and said plunger spaced apart to receive the filament, a driving coupling connecting the plunger to the adaptor permitting relative axial movement whilst constraining the plunger to rotate with the adaptor, and a driving element for the core on said plunger said driving element having a diametrally slotted end with a, centre plug to fit into said core, a core driving blade located in the slot and having a driving tongue adapted to project beyond the end of the lunger adjacent said centre plug and resilient means urging said core driving blade towards and into engagement with said core.

2. A winding station as set forth in claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a light compression spring, located in the socket between the blind end thereof and the end of the plunger.

3. A winding station as set forth in claim 1 in which said plunger is formed with a frustoconical portion, the increasing diameter portion of which is adapted to guide the filament to said filament-receiving faces.

4. A winding station as set forth in claim 3 and including a filament collector as distinct from a filament traversing guide, movable axially relative to the axis of the centres and comprising notched form members engageable with the yarn to engage and bring the yarn into a chord-like position relative to said filament-clamping faces and during the last part of its movement to bring that portion of the filament lying between said notches against the frusto-conical portion of the plunger and push it up such portion until it falls between said filament-receiving faces.

5. A winding station as set forth in claim 1 in which said driving element is a friction ring adapted. to abut the end of a core when held between said centres.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,121,103 Hooper Dec. 15, 1914 2,176,182 Kinsella et al. Oct. 17, 1939 2,234,355 Reiners et al. Mar. 11, 1941 2,35 ,322 Lane July 25, 1944 2,449,328 Schweiter Sept. 14, 1948 2,481,031 McDermott Sept. 6, 1949 2,573,367 Schweiter Oct. 30, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 678,474 France Dec, 24, 1929 187,992 Switzerland Mar. 1, 1937 188,195 Switzerland Mar. 1, 1937 

